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ChapterFour
Jess sighed, her body lethargic and warm. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so peaceful and easy and relaxed.
Opening her eyes slowly, she blinked a few times, trying to focus her vision. She frowned when she became aware that she wasn’t in her own bed.
No. She didn’t have a bed or a house or…
Just like that, all her memories crashed down on her.
“Jasper!” she gasped, jerking straight upright, struggling to recall where she was.
“He’s fine,” a deep male voice said.
Her startled gaze darted that direction and she saw Tony Moretti, slowly lowering the leg rest of his recliner before placing his laptop on the table next to him.
“He’s taking a nap in the guest room down the hall,” he added, speaking to her while texting on his phone.
Jess’s eyes flew around the room as she tried to force her fuzzy thoughts into focus. She and Jasper had spent the night outside in the car. Rhys and Tony had found them.
She rubbed her forehead. She’d been freezing cold and so fucking tired, she hadn’t been able to think clearly. Tony had carried her inside—she flushed when she recalled that—and Rhys had given her a checkup.
The bright sunlight streaming through the window told her they were well into the morning hours.
“Shit,” she said, standing quickly. “I’m late for work.”
“No, you’re not.”
Jess glanced around the room in search of a clock but didn’t see one. “What time is it?”
“Three.”
“In the afternoon?!” she said loudly. “Oh my God.” Then another piece fell into place. “You said you’d wake me up!”
“No, I didn’t.”
Jess didn’t know if that was true or not. All she knew was, she’d lain under the warmest, softest blanket she’d ever felt and slept for…God…nine hours. On a stranger’s couch.
And on top of that, there was a good chance she’d lost her job at the motel.
Ever since losing the apartment, Jess had worked hard at keeping her chin up, making sure she kept putting one foot in front of the other because she didn’t have a choice. Jasper needed her to keep moving.
Now she wondered if she’d simply been fooling herself all this time, mistakenly believing she was strong, when really all she’d been was too tired and numb to see how miserably she was failing.
Well rested, she could suddenly see all too clearly how crappy her life was. It had all been going to shit slowly over the past seven months, and every time she thought she’d hit rock bottom, she found yet another level below it.
“I needed that mon—” she started, intent on arguing with him, raging at him for letting her sleep and lose a day’s pay, even though it wasn’t really Tony she was mad at. She was mad at herself. So instead, she cut herself off and muttered, “fuck it,” before dropping back down on the couch wearily. “Fuck it all.”
“I called Rocco, told him you were sick and wouldn’t be in. You didn’t lose your job, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
She stared at Tony for a moment. “You called him?”
“You were in no condition to go to work, Jess.”
She narrowed her eyes, her temper piquing again. “That wasn’t your call to make.” What she didn’t add was that she was royally screwed without today’s pay. Rocco paid her at the end of each workday in cash. Now she was sitting here with no money in her wallet and no gas in her car.
The universe was having a lot of fun at her expense.
Tony leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You were making the wrong decision, so I made the right one.”
